Overnight Camping in Singapore with Kids: A Family Guide
- Claire
- 6 days ago
- 9 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
A practical guide to overnight tent camping in Singapore with kids. NParks campsites, glamping options, and Wildlings family camps compared.
Why overnight camping is back on the family agenda
Overnight camping in Singapore with kids is one of the few weekend experiences that genuinely takes families out of routine. No room service. No screens competing for attention. Just tents, trees, and a fire in the evening.
Many weekends here in Singapore can involve some combination of malls, restaurants, indoor playgrounds and devices. Let's also be honest - Singapore is SMALL, residents are always looking for ways to expand the experience and make it feel larger. Staycations break the pattern for a night, but a hotel room with a pool is not the same as a night under canvas, which brings an entirely different dynamic. The catch is that overnight camping with kids takes planning, and most parents can simply be too busy or not want to invest in another set of gear they may only use once.
However, Singapore has more camping options than you may realise, but they vary widely in cost, comfort, and how much of the work falls on you. This guide surveys what's actually possible, helps you choose the right type of camp for your family, and shows what a programme-led overnight family camp looks like in practice.
Singapore has more camping options than most parents realise. The choice is what kind of experience you want.
What's actually possible: the camping landscape in Singapore
There are three broad categories of overnight camping you can do with kids in Singapore.
NParks campsites: DIY, free, full autonomy
NParks runs five legal camping locations: East Coast Park, West Coast Park, Pasir Ris Park, Changi Beach, and Pulau Ubin. Permits are free and applied for online up to two months in advance. Each tent permit covers up to six people. This is definitely the budget DIY option so be prepared for the unexpected.
East Coast Park. Areas D and G. Toilets, showers, BBQ pits. Sea breeze, sunrises, and a steady weekend crowd, so not a quiet night. Big groups prevail and despite how early you arrive its hard to save any kind of personal quiet space at weekends.
West Coast Park. A little quieter than East Coast, with the same amenities and an excellent playground next to the camping area. However, we ran three overnight family camps in the location and parent's reviews of the serenity were mixed.
Pasir Ris Park. Playgrounds, mangroves, and a viewing tower for birdwatching. This one we have not tried personally.
Pulau Ubin. Three campsites at Mamam, Jelutong and Endut Senin. A ten-minute bumboat ride from Changi but feels like another country. No drinking water at the campsites but it can be purchased along with basic meals in the main village. We did an overnight family camp with friends at Jelutong and despite the best gear and planning we still found ourselves next to a group of 100 determined to dominate the entire campsite with a full movie set-up, AV equipment, commandeering the fire pit and so on. Why NParks even allowed our permits to be booked is beyond my understanding since we could have gone another time if the campsite was so booked out. The toilets are a dark and quiet scary walk from the campsite and the water is brown and you wouldn't even wash in it. The sea water and 'beach' are filthy. Endut Senin will be quiet, but isolated and very hot with little shade. We have no experience of Mamam camp.
With NParks campsites you have to take everything with you and also book BBQ pits separately (except the firepits at Jelutong which are supposed to be shared but in our experience this was not the case). We don't think it's a pleasant experience for families to try at weekends but if you can find time to get away from work mid-week and have all the gear you need (and a car and wagon to help you transport it) it's possible to have a pleasant experience even with young children.
Commercial tent rental and glamping: comfort and style
If you would rather skip the gear, several operators set up the tent for you greatly reducing the amount of gear you need to buy, transport, and store at home after:
Glamp Tribe and Go Glamping SG. Family tents at East Coast Park, around $320 per night. They often secure the best spots for their customers.
New: Lazarus Island glamping with Into the Woods. From $430 per family tent per night.
New: Colugo Camp at Mandai. Adjacent to the wildlife parks, from $550 to $800 for two nights for two to four people.
Singapore Zoo Family Camp. Overnight in dome tents inside the Zoo, with animal presentations and dinner, from $1,699 for a family of four.
Ocean Dreams at Singapore Oceanarium. Overnight in tents inside the Open Ocean habitat, $1,800 to $3,800 per tent.
These options solve the gear and storage problem, but they take away the fun of making your own camp and the ones offered at Mandai are arguably not camping at all. A big benefit is privacy and a reasonable lights out time is far more likely. The more affordable options are accommodation only with no activities, programming or catering included so these need to be added on top. The more expensive options are all inclusive but really stretch the budget of the average Singaporean family of four.
Family camps with a programme: camping plus activities
The third category is what we call "family camps with a programme": overnight stays where the tent, the food and the activities are built in. A small number of Singapore providers run them. Here's the picture as of May 2026.
Wildlings Family Camps (Dempsey). Forest School-inspired overnight programme for families with kids 4 to 12. Programmes vary but can include experiences such as a family geocache adventure, pond dipping, campfire, drumming circle, night nature walk, morning yoga and reflection art. Tents, fans, food and activities provided. Next dates: 30–31 May 2026. Held quarterly and for private groups.
Families for Life P.L.A.Y. Camps. Government-led parent-child bonding weekends with experienced instructors. Subsidised or free in some formats. Next round: June 2026 (check familiesforlife.sg for exact dates).
PAssion Wave (Sembawang, Marina Bay, Jurong Lake Gardens). People's Association runs occasional 2D1N family camps at its waterfront sites. Currently inactive. Most recent listed: SG60 Family Beach Day Camp, 2025.
Outward Bound Singapore (Pulau Ubin). Long-established outdoor education centre, primarily delivering school challenge programmes for MOE. No public family camps currently listed for 2026.
Beyond Expeditions (Pulau Ubin). Bushcraft and survival camps with founder Scott, a former firefighter. Family-specific overnight programmes appear ad-hoc rather than scheduled.
Families with younger kids who haven't camped before, or who want family-orientated activities rather than improvising for themselves, usually choose this category, and within it, the provider whose ethos matches their own.
How children benefit from an overnight camp
Pitching a tent may be the first time many children watch the structure of their immediate environment go up under their own hands. They are responsible for its success, and failure could mean a wet and uncomfortable night — actual, real-world consequences. From there, the rest of the experience asks them to do things they would not do in a normal weekend.
Capability. At a camp, children have to do useful work for the system to function. Tents need pitching, fires need feeding, plates need scraping. They quickly see they can be useful in ways that matter, and the self-image travels home with them.
Resilience. Camping in Singapore means heat, humidity, the occasional downpour, ants in places we wish they weren't, and a sleeping bag too hot at 10pm and not warm enough at 4am. None of it is dangerous but it is mildly inconvenient, and children learn that mildly inconvenient is survivable, then forgettable, then funny, and that is how resilience builds: tolerable doses of discomfort, sat through alongside grown-ups rather than rescued from it.
Connection. At a family camp, parents stop being logistics managers. There are no pickups, laundry, work or email. Siblings cooperate differently when they share a tent. Kids talk more freely walking beside a parent than sitting across a table. Nature plays its part as well to provide a much needed respite from the urban environment.
Curiosity. Most of the natural world is busy when humans are quiet. Pond dipping turns up dragonfly nymphs and tadpoles, frogs get loud at night and birds wake even earlier than children. A torchlit walk reveals geckos, beetles, the occasional civet. Children who have seen this once feel different about going outside afterwards. It brings the wonder of the natural world closer to home.
One night under canvas does what a week of activities can't.
What a Wildlings family camp looks like in practice
Wildlings runs overnight family camps at our private nature space in Dempsey, designed for kids 4 to 12 and their parents. Tents, stools, drinking water mosquito spray, and fans are provided, a calm nature environment to enjoy, warm, clean showers and toilets shared with Baker & Cook and Core Collective and exclusively for Wildlings out of hours.
The activity programme is built and run by Wildlings outdoor educators and the Forest School ethos underpins the design of the activity programme. Your first job as a family is to have fun making camp and putting up your home for the night. At 1:30pm there's a welcome briefing and family games to settle everyone in. There are then a variety of experiences and time to relax and play, before a buffet dinner and evening campfire. The night time entertainment may include a drumming circle, a night walk or family movie night.
Sunday morning starts with relaxing family yoga in Tamarind Tent before a buffet breakfast. Families then need to break camp. clean tents and return as found. Reflection and artwork conclude the programme before farewells.
Practical details (next camp)
See our Events Pages for the next bookable Overnight Family Camp.
Date: 30 May (12:30pm) to 31 May (10am) 2026 (confirmed), Upcoming: September & December camps.
Location: Wildlings Nature Space, 27A Loewen Road, Dempsey
Ages: Kids 4 to 12, adults 13yrs+
Price: $159.50 adult, $139.50 child (GST inclusive)
Provided: Tents, fans, dinner and breakfast (just bring snacks), full activity programme
Bring: Torch, change of clothes, PMA!
Practical tips for overnight camping with kids in Singapore
Whichever option for your camp you choose, these are the practical things that make or break a Singapore camp.
Heat and humidity. Even at night, Singapore is warm. Fans help. We love Makita Jobsite Fans with 6.0Ah rechargeable batteries. They are an investment, but we take them everywhere (beach, park, playground!)
Rain. Tropical storms come fast so a wet weather plan is a must. Programme-led camps will have indoor or sheltered backup. DIY campers should pitch tents on slightly higher ground and bring tarps. Shelters in NParks camping areas can become uncomfortably busy when the weather is bad.
Insects. Pack repellent for kids and adults, especially during peak active seasons April to October. At Wildlings ask us about our natural mosquito repellents made by the children at Forest School - we love their smell and eco-friendliness.
Lighting. Wildlings and some public campsites are well lit. We think its lovely to pack some battery powered fairy lights to create atmosphere and cosiness for kids and Decathlon is the gear-go-to and has plenty of lantern styles to choose from, we like the rechargeable options.
Sleep: Ditch pure airbeds and opt for hybrid air & foam mats for extra comfort. You don't need a sleeping bag, a single duvet cover works perfectly and packs small. Decathlon has some great memory foam pillows that are also compact and wash up nicely (avoid inflatables).
See you in the forest!
About Wildlings
Wildlings is a Forest School and outdoor education company in Singapore. We run weekly Forest School, holiday camps, school excursions and residentials, family camps, and corporate experiences across the city, with private home bases at Dempsey and West Coast Park, and camps further afield at Pulau Ubin and on Pulau Tengah, Malaysia. At the heart of everything we do is the world-renowned Forest Schools ethos.
Wildlings has been recognised with multiple consecutive Expat Living Reader's Choice Awards for Best Outdoor Activity for Kids and Best Kids' Holiday Camp. Thousands of families across Singapore, Malaysia and beyond have come through our programmes.
Frequently asked questions
What ages are Wildlings family camps suitable for?
Children aged 4 to 12 with their adults. Older teens are welcome on the adult ticket.
Do we need to bring our own tent?
No. Tents, stools and fans are provided. See our brochure for packing guide.
What if it rains?
Wildlings camps run rain or shine. Indoor and covered backup spaces are built into the site, and the activity programme has wet-weather alternatives. Tropical rain is part of camping in Singapore: usually short, often dramatic, but never the end of the weekend or a reason to stay away from Wildlings.
Are meals included?
Yes. Buffet dinner Saturday evening, dessert, and buffet breakfast Sunday morning are all included. We recommend bringing snacks and note that Baker & Cook is next door.
Where do parents sleep?
Parents sleep with their children in the family's tent. Tents are sized for families and laid out across the Dempsey site.
How do I get a permit for DIY camping at NParks sites?
Is it good for friends?
Yes absolutely. Family camps are designed for mixed age groups to have fun together and enjoying it with friends can make it even more special. The activities scale up and down well for younger and older kids.
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